


That one

by jestbee



Series: A-Z of Parent!Phan [3]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Parents, Dogs, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-04-21
Packaged: 2019-04-25 21:15:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14387256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jestbee/pseuds/jestbee
Summary: For @phandomficfests





	That one

**Author's Note:**

> For @phandomficfests

“That one,” Zach says when he’s five, pointing across the park to where a dog is running after a squirrel.

“Come on,” Dan says tugging on his hand, pulling him away. “We can't have a dog.”

Zach cries a little but is easily distracted by a bag of fruit snacks so Dan counts it as a win.

When he’s six he asks Santa for a puppy, on his seventh birthday he claims he’s grown up enough for a dog now, and when he’s eight he gets his three year old sister to join him in chanting “we want a dog” over and over again in the backseat of a particularly long car ride. Alexa doesn’t really know what she’s saying but she’s kind of obsessed with Zach at the moment so she tends to do what he says.

Suffice to say, Zach has always been fixated.

“Nine is old enough,” Phil says while Dan balls socks in to pairs.

It’s hopeless because there are always a few stragglers without matching ones in amongst both Phil’s and Zach’s laundry so what’s the point?

“Alexa is four.”

“But she’s really gentle,” Phil argues, “nothing like Zach was.”

Zach is kind of an energetic kid. He’s not rough or boisterous at all he just flings himself about a bit, unaware of his own general weight and height. He tends to get away with it though, looking up through those thick curls with round wide brown eyes and anyone he’s managed to injure forgives him straight away.

“Phil, you’re literally allergic.” They’ve had this discussion, even before the kids.

“Not really,” Phil says, “just a bit. Not as bad as with cats.”

Dan pauses, a small sock with dinosaurs on in one hand and a blue one with smiling stars in the other that is probably Phil’s but Dan doesn’t recall him wearing it.

“This is a madhouse,” Dan says, giving up and pairing the dinosaur sock with a Peppa Pig one from the kid’s pile. Odd socks is kind of a running thing here anyway. “And you want to add a dog to the mix?”

“He really wants one.”

“Are you going to walk it? And feed it and clean up after it when it shits on the carpet?”

Phil is peering in the fridge getting things together for tea and he comes out holding a courgette in one hand and a tomato in the other, closing the door with his hip.

“Zach will help.”

“Yeah, that’ll last.”

“It’s a good lesson in responsibility,” Phil says, chopping the veg and boiling the kettle for pasta.

There is a shriek from the other room that sounds like Alexa and Dan puts the folded clothes in the basket before going to investigate.

“What are you two up to in here?” He says as he rounds the corner.

Phil cuts veg and puts the pasta on the hob to boil and uses the remaining water to make coffee which is ready by the time Dan re-enters the kitchen.

“Everything okay?”

“Hm,” Dan says, accepting the coffee. “Zach switched channels to power bots and Alexa wanted to watch princesses. It’s fine, it’s sorted. They’re both watching Wall-E.”

Phil grins.

“So… dog?”

Dan rolls his eyes.

“I know you want one too. I know we decided not to before because we wanted to have the kids and that but… I really do think Zach is old enough now.”

“Fine,” Dan says, putting his coffee down and lifting the washing basket onto his hip. “But you’re walking it.”

“We’ll take it in turns,” Phil says.

“I’ve heard that before,” Dan says, “but I still get flashbacks to those 2am nappy changes.”

“Think you’ll find that was me!” Phil argues, but Dan has already gone to put the clothes away.

When Zach is nine and a half he opens a box with a collar in it on Christmas morning. On boxing day they finally bring home a shih tzu called Quinn from their local shelter. She’s the perfect addition to their family. She’s 2 years old and only there because her elderly owner died, gentle with her previous owner’s grandchildren and, according to a Google deep dive Dan insisted they have before deciding, she’s also hypoallergenic.

She’s not the Corgi or the Shiba Inu they thought about once upon a time, but she nuzzles up to Zach and licks Alexa’s hand so gently that it tickles and makes her break out in to giggles. She fits on the bottom of Zach’s single bed where she sleeps, despite them trying to encourage her into a dog bed in the living room.

Zach is happy but Phil thinks Dan might be even happier. He catches him cuddling up with her a few times but he can’t even bring himself to tease him for it because it’s really freaking adorable.

All in all, it’s a really great decision and Phil thinks their family is finally settled.

That is until Alexa is seven and watching TV from the grey armchair in their living room.

“Dad…” she sing-songs, “Can I have a horse?”

**Author's Note:**

> [reblog on tumblr](http://jestbee.tumblr.com/post/173159148047/title-that-one-t-notes-written-for)


End file.
